TAIPEI, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s military carried out its first joint combat exercise using multiple types of attack drones this week, in what President Lai Ching-te said on Friday showed how the armed forces were adapting to the needs of modern warfare.
Lai has made defence modernisation a key part of his agenda given the rising threat from China, including developing drones and spending more on defence, something US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressed the country’s allies to do.
Overseeing the drills in the far south of Taiwan, which also included launches of domestically developed Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missiles and Lockheed Martin-made HIMARS rockets, Lai said precision firing exercises are crucial for testing weapon effectiveness.
“In particular, this marks the first time the military has incorporated multiple types of attack drones into joint combat exercises,” Lai said, according to a transcript of his comments to officers provided by the presidential office.
“The coordinated use of unmanned vehicles with conventional weapons reflects the adaptation to modern warfare,” he added.
The statement from his office did not say what types of drones were used during the three days of drills, and only provided images of the missiles.
Drones, often very low cost, have become central to combat operations both in the war between Ukraine and Russia and also in the Middle East, and Taiwan has been keen to learn lessons from those conflicts for its contingency planning.
Lai said the military is accelerating its combat capabilities to show Taiwan “has the confidence and capability to defend national sovereignty and fulfil its responsibility for regional peace and stability”.
Lai was accompanied on his visit not only by Defence Minister Wellington Koo and other senior security officials, but also by Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, which runs the Coast Guard.
The government has been working to better integrate the Coast Guard into overall defence planning, given it would have an auxiliary role to the navy during a war.
During Taiwan’s main annual war games in August, a Coast Guard ship was fitted with anti-ship missiles.
Lai and his government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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